Japan

Lil Kim and I went to Japan to see the Maryan's and play. We had a blast. We were gone for 10 days and pretty much saw all of central/southern Japan. We first started in Yokosuka. Ellie and fam are stationed here for the next year. We ran around base, saw Yokohama, went to a Yen Store (love the $ store), and celebrated Easter with the boys. There house is really cute. They have a two story home which is normally great; however, Ellie is hopping around with her pink cast and all. She said she fell in the rain after we left. Oh no! They were great hosts and we wish they could have met us in Tokyo. One day while visiting them we snuck off to Kamakura to see the baby Buddha and visit a few shrines. We were able to see some of the Pagota style homes/buildings and watch all the people. It was so interesting to see several locals visiting the shrines. This happened everywhere we went. It was like they were a hang out for them. Anyway, from Yokohama we headed to Kyoto. We had a great hotel across from the Imperial Palace and metro station. We toured the city for 1 1/2 days and then used it as a base camp to visit places like Nara (the Deer Park), Kobe (ate some darn good beef), Himeji (saw a great castle), and Osaka (could not find the restaurant we wanted and wandered the city for hours-hahaha). Kyoto had 100s of shrines all over the city. We ate at a Japanese style restaurant and managed to sit on our knees for most of the time. Ouch! We did plenty of shopping and caught a show in Gion that reflected the arts of geisha/kabuki/tea ceremony and more. From here we went to Tokyo. The first day we were there we found the home where my parent's lived 30 years ago. So surreal! We found a great pub nearby and watched the Rugby match and made friends with a people from France, Britain, Australia, Scotland, and Germany. The Frenchman lived in Tokyo for the past 12 years and took us to a fun bar where we watched a Japanese rock band. How fun! Kim and managed to drink a bit too much and suffered the next day (actually she did - I didn't - hahaha). We then went to all the different sites (Tokyo Tower, Sake Breweries, shopping district, Harajuku, ate Shabu Shabu and more). We had a princess party in the hotel one night (the Westin is gorgeous and in a great neighborhood) and really relaxed/played while in Tokyo. The trip was a success and we are so glad we got to experience Japan.